For you newbies out there, this is what we had before iMacs... I was horrified when I saw the first PCs that were colored black, dammit, I thought "well, uh, I guess I'll get used to it..." but that was, as implied, before the iMacs came. =) Oh dear ohdearohdear... Well, actually, I'm not complaining.

Nightclub in Liverpool, UK. Started around 1993 in Wolstenholme Square, an open area surrounded by empty warehouses (and the Parr Street recording studios), between the city centre and chinatown.

After Cream started as a fairly small (300ish) capacity room and then expanded rapidly over the next few years to the 3000ish venue it is today, still standing on the same site, which looks from the outside like a WWII Anderson shelter combined with a warehouse.

Original promoters were Darren Hughes and James Barton. Stuart Davenport had something to do with it too, I think he was the licensee of the Nation, (formerly the Academy), the club venue itself. They played host to many DJs who went on to become household names, and I personally remember watching the Chemical Brothers (formerly the Dust Brothers) DJing in the Annexe in 1995 and being completely bowled over by it. Resident DJs were Andy Carroll, Paul Bleasdale and James Barton.

On my first visit to Cream I remember the tune playing was "Hideaway" by D'Lacy, the Deep Dish remix, as I entered the club. The atmosphere smacked you in the face as you walked in - this was something completely different to anything that had gone before. I've had some incredible nights at Cream, the best one being the first time BBC Radio 1 broadcast live with Pete Tong from the main room. Unbelievable.

Anyway, Barton and Hughes fell out and Hughes left to set up Home in London, which I was always gutted about because I think they really were the Dream Team together. Barton has continued to expand the Cream brand globally, and is doing well out of it. I don't get to go to Cream these days, I feel like I grew out of it to be honest, and I found a bigger hit along the way - Gatecrasher. Although that's disappeared up its own bottom recently so I may be travelling to Liverpool once again.

Fresh milk, if left to sit undisturbed, will separate: to the top will rise a layer of thick rich cream full of milk or butterfat, floating over a much larger mass of fat-free skim milk. If left long enough the cream will get so thick it must be spooned off. Once removed, and if left even longer in its natural state, the friendly bacteria it contains turn it into a slightly fermented but delicious product such as crème fraîche or sour cream. These days, however, cream is usually summarily separated from milk by centrifugal force in giant whirling machines, after which it is pasteurized before commercial sale, killing those bacteria and making the natural evolution to naturally thickened creams impossible.

This is sad.

Commercial cream is sold under several labels, differentiated according to the amount of milk fat it contains. Here they are, from lightest/least fat to heaviest/most fat:

Recipes for cake and the like often advise the cook to cream ingredients such as butter and sugar together. This means you have to beat the ingredients or combination of ingredients together until smooth, soft, and creamy. Ideally, the end result should be homogeneous, showing neither separation of liquid from fat nor evidence of crystals such as sugar. If it's butter you're creaming, make sure it's at room temperature before you begin, and pay attention to the suggested timing in the recipe, if any; overbeating can produce disastrous curdled results. If at all possible, use an electric mixer or food processor for creaming; a fork can take a long time and a lot of elbow grease to give the same results.

Cream were a short lived, but highly influential blues rock trio in the mid to late sixties. Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce came together to create some of the most revolutionary music of the era. Started as a money making venture, and not just a means of taking the blues to a new level, Cream was never destined to last for very long.

"We did want to surprise them in a way because we didn't want them to sort of just you know accept us as a blues band. We want to be something more than that.."

After this, Bruce went on to join the Bluesbreakers, where he met ex-Yardbirdsguitarist Eric Clapton. It was now that Clapton really began to make an impression, and the first few fans were declaring adamantly that "Clapton is God." Cream began to emerge in 1966, when Baker asked to sit in on a Bluesbreakers gig. Clapton felt an immediate connection, but was surprised when Baker aproached him several months later with the suggestion of forming their own band. The whole idea was almost scuppered when Clapton insisted that Bruce be the Bassist. Clapton had been impressed by Bruce's versatility and Baker was eventually made to apologise for booting him from the Organization, and for threatening him.

The first real rehearsals took place in June 1966, and the band spent the rest of that year touring the British Blues club circuit. They released their first album, "Fresh Cream," in December that year, to chart success and critical praise. The Album contained all the raw material that would catapult the band to world fame, but was not as solid as their later material.

A true turning point for the band came when Felix Pappalardi walked in during the recording of their second album. He liked the music and asked if he could put some words on the track they had just recorded. The band agreed and the next day Pappalardi came back with "Strange Brew." 1967's, "Disraeli Gears," produced by Pappalardi is remembered as one of the greatest Rock n' Roll albums of all time. The new psychedelic sound took the band further from traditional blues than they had ever imagined. "Strange Brew" became a hit single, as did the much heavier "Sunshine of your love."

With Pappalardi producing, the Cream had now found their form, and 1968 saw the release of the wildly successful "Wheels of fire" double album, one disc of new studio material, and one with live performances that showcases their wild experimentation and improvisation on stage. The studio recordings included classics like "White Room" and "Pressed Rat and Warthog."

Inevitably, the success, and inner turmoil began to wear the band down, and 1968 also saw them fall apart. They grew tired of their own popularity when they realised that they could not avoid an ovation, however poorly they played. It was around this time that the critics turned against them. The renowned Rolling Stone Magazine called Clapton "the master of blues clichés." It was a unanimous decision that the band should split. Coming at the height of their success, this news shocked fans and critics alike. The band played a series of mediocre farewell concerts at the Royal Albert hall, and released "Goodbye," which was something of a Post-mortem of the bands meteoric rise to fame.

Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce very nearly sunk into obscurity. They still collaborate together, despite being old enemies. In the nineties they joined with ex Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore, to form BBM, but Moore was never really committed.

Eric Clapton went on to have one of the most successful and lengthy careers in Rock history. His string of solo albums produced hits like "Layla" and "Cocaine." Today he is recognised as one of the greatest living guitarists.

In their short two years together, Cream truly revolutionised Rock music. It is impossible to tell how far their influence extends. Jimi Hendrix, who was just emerging whilst Cream were at their most popular, was known to be a big fan. On one occasion he stopped in the middle of a performance and started playing "Sunshine of your love." Along with Hendrix, bands like Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, and others, the Cream inspired a new generation of musicians, who would go on to create the Hard rock and early Heavy Metal that would dominate the charts in the early seventies. They also made a lot of money.

"We want to make money. I've been working too hard for too little for too long and I thought it's time I did something about it."

- Eric Clapton.

Update 11th of April, 2006

In May 2005 Cream reunited to play four dates at the Royal Albert Hall, and three dates at Madison Square Garden in New York later that year. Tickets for the London dates sold out within minutes, and Eric Clapton wept openly on stage as he thanked the assembled fans for waiting 37 years for their return. Although the band were a little rusty, the performances had excellent reviews. A DVD of the performance, and a live album containing the best cuts from their London dates was released.

The rich, oily, and yellowish part of milk, which, when the milk stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is obtained.

2.

The part of any liquor that rises, and collects on the surface.

[R.]

3.

A delicacy of several kinds prepared for the table from cream, etc., or so as to resemble cream.

4.

A cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation.

In vain she tries her paste and creams,
To smooth her skin or hide its seams.
Goldsmith.

5.

The best or choicest part of a thing; the quintessence; as. the cream of a jest or story; the cream of a collection of books or pictures.

Welcome, O flower and cream of knights errant.
Shelton.

Bavarian cream, a preparation of gelatin, cream, sugar, and eggs, whipped; -- to be eaten cold. -- Cold cream, an ointment made of white wax, almond oil, rose water, and borax, and used as a salve for the hands and lips. -- Cream cheese, a kind of cheese made from curd from which the cream has not been taken off, or to which cream has been added. -- Cream gauge, an instrument to test milk, being usually a graduated glass tube in which the milk is placed for the cream to rise. -- Cream nut, the Brazil nut. -- Cream of lime. (a) A scum of calcium carbonate which forms on a solution of milk of lime from the carbon dioxide of the air. (b) A thick creamy emulsion of lime in water. -- Cream of tartarChem., purified tartar or argol; so called because of the crust of crystals which forms on the surface of the liquor in the process of purification by recrystallization. It is a white crystalline substance, with a gritty acid taste, and is used very largely as an ingredient of baking powders; -- called also potassium bitartrate, acid potassium tartrate, etc.